The Birthday that Almost Wasn't

I checked my e-mail as soon as I woke up this morning. It took me a good minute or two to realize that the insane amount of wall-postings weren’t due to a Facebook virus, but rather, it was my birthday! I’d almost forgotten. Had I known sooner, I may have rescheduled a planned trip to Cappadocia and treated myself with another day-trip to Eskisehir.

So here I am, on a speed-train between Eskisehir and Ankara, on my way to Cappadocia, busy being twenty-three. I’m a quarter of my way through life, which is an awful thing to think about either because I’ve only got three-quarters of a lifetime to go, or because I’ve got three-quarters of a lifetime to go. I plan to make the most of it – to attack my dreams with all I’ve got. Onwards and upwards.

I knew my birthday fell somewhere around this time. There was a lingering sense of it in the back of my mind, but because the days tend to bleed together in Bilecik, I wasn’t so much fully aware of it. I have received some wonderful messages from friends, students, and colleagues. Messages like, ‘It is so good that you are borning’ really warm the heart and inspire me to start quizzing my students more frequently. Experimentation with language comes only after one has mastered the Simple Past tense.

Alas, my birthday will be spent in transit as I make my way to Cappadocia to snap photos of the aforementioned pointy, stone caves (see previous post). My most recent book purchase should keep me company. I bought Orwell’s ‘1984’ the other day at the D&R bookstore in Eskisehir. It’s got me a little on edge. ‘Big Brother’ is definitely watching me. Though in all seriousness, the novel is striking in its portrayal of a reality bearing resemblance, albeit loosely, to the US in the post-9/11 era. All I could think of was the ‘Patriot Act’ – it’s provisions and its name, attempting to shroud its distinctly anti-American manifestations in ironic prose.

Some colleagues of mine live round them parts – that is, Nevsehir – and I look forward to staying with them for the next few days. I’ll take advantage of these final two months, traveling as often as possible.

(Written Thursday, March 24^th, 2011)